AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 221 



given us very interesting details. The reservoir resembles a 

 melon in all its texture — contains more than fifteen quarts of 

 ■water, of a greenish hue, but without any bad taste. The Arabs 

 said that if suffered to stand still for three days, this water would 

 become limpid and good to drink. The experiment was tried and 

 was successful. It is desiral)le that a chemical analysis of it 

 should be made. 



The vegetables whicli principally feed tlie camel are shrubs, 

 dry and prickly, and those salt plants which grow on the desert, 

 chieliy thistles, Ta/narix, a shrub with rod-like branches, bark 

 somewhat bitter, and small thorny acacias. 



The camel eats the stones of the dates, which are as hard as 

 wood. It so happens that the dates and the one hump camel 

 occupy about the same regions The feet of the camel enable 

 him to travel weil on sand, on rocky-ground, mountains; I)ut are 

 bad for wet clay — he slips and is in danger of falling and break- 

 ing his legs. 



Some of the races of Persia and of Egypt, carry a load on the 

 back, of some 700 lbs. weight, and a common load for one of them 

 is 400 to 500 lbs. For carrying lar and readily he excels the 

 elephant as well as the horse. The camel will henceforth play a 

 great part in our history. They have been employed to carry 

 small field pieces, suited for that purpose. 



In Algeria the dromedary is called Mehari, and in Arabia De- 

 lul, in Turkey leldevesi, in Persia Schutturha or Rehawich, in 

 Egypt Heguia. He is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus as the 

 most slim and swift and indefatigable—his name on that account 

 is Racer or Courser, from the Greek w^ord for Course, Dromos — 

 c)p(j(xoj, whence Hippodrome or Horse-course.* 



DIOSCOREA OF NEW ZEALAND. 



The experiments with it in France, are not very encouraging, 

 although faithfully tried by Messrs. Moquin, Tandon, Paillet and 

 Chatin, to v>'hom they were given for experiment by the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of Turin, last year. Violet Ignames, of Mau- 

 ritius, also. 



* Mehemet Ali has ridden without stopping, in eight hours, a dromedary nearly 400 

 miles — this was a creature particularly educated to run. (180 kilometres.) 



